A Small Lesson About Bullets

I went to the range this morning with no intention of posting about anything. But I observed something I thought you guys might be interesting in seeing and talking about.

I took my S&W 686, .357 Magnum pistol, stainless, with a 6 inch barrel. It is a fine shooter. Here it is.

I wasn’t shooting .357 Mag loads today. I was shooting some .38 Special full wadcutters with a light load for accuracy. I was shooting at about 7 yards, standing, off hand. Just punching paper.

I first shot up the last 50 rounds of the last 1,000 rounds I had loaded a while back. I had used some 148 grain double ended full wadcutters with some bullets I had bought online.

Here is what those bullets looked like.

Then I switched to the new batch of 1,000 rounds I had recently loaded with some Speer 148 grain Hollow Base Full Wadcutters. The purpose of the hollow base is to allow the base to expand to fully grip the rifling even with mild loads.

Here are the bullets.

And here is what they look like loaded.

But I noticed the two targets. The target on the left had 12 rounds shot through it and the target on the right had 18 rounds shot through it.

The one on the left is the old loads with the DEWC bullets.

The target on the right is the new loads with the HBWC bullets.

The loads are the same except for the bullets.

Same shooter.

Same day.

Same pistol. (S&W 686)

Same mixed cases.

Same powder. (WW-231)

Same load. (3.0 grains)

Same primers.

Same loading machine. (Dillon)

The only difference was the bullets.

Here’s the thing: You can’t cheat on bullets.

Bullets are the most important part of any handload. Get the best.

Oh well, a lovely day at the range. Better than the best day I ever spent at work.

1 Comment on A Small Lesson About Bullets

I found much the same. The “can” wadcutters dont shoot that well out of my 86 and the hollow base were very accurate as well. The “can” ones at distance are… Frustrating. Funny thing is we shoot the same revolver, same powder and same type of bullets Ive had mine since 1986 believe it or not! With the right load I was shooting shotgun shells at 25 yards consistently back in the day.